While riding through town on a bicycle Saturday, Bill Horner couldn’t help but think about three friends whose lives had been altered by multiple sclerosis.

“The first friend I lost after college due to illness,” he said, “was a former standout athlete at Foothill High in Tustin. His first symptoms that were severe enough for him to look into it was out surfing. His arm went numb, and he couldn’t paddle.”

Horner’s second link to MS was a friend who lost his wife to the disease. His third link is a business acquaintance, a San Clemente resident diagnosed with MS six years ago.

Saturday, Horner was one of nearly 2,000 people who pedaled through San Clemente on the MS 150 Bay to Bay Bike Tour, an annual fundraiser for the Pacific South Coast chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Horner also was one of 37 San Clementeans participating in the two-day ride from Huntington State Beach to San Diego’s Mission Bay.

“I’ve ridden the ride six years now,” said Horner, 51, who handles corporate real estate for LA Fitness sports clubs.

He rode Saturday and Sunday as a member of Lloyd’s Loggers, a team of 63 riders that collectively raised about $60,000 for MS research.

Except for a strong headwind Saturday, the ride went smoothly, Horner said. People cheered along the way, as they always do. And there were funny little incidents here and there.

“I actually had somebody pull over … in front of me … and ask for directions to Alpine,” Horner said. “A motorist.”

Char Yarnall, a 38-year-old architect with PJHM Architects in San Clemente, was another of the San Clemente riders in the event.

“Oh, it was fantastic,” she said. “We had two 11-year-olds riding with us – my son Trevor and (his friend) Kyle McDonald. They were on tandem bicycles with their fathers.”

The Yarnalls are members of a team called Blazin’ Saddles.

“None of us have a direct personal tie with MS,” Char said. She and her husband Rich are avid cyclists who began riding in the MS ride in 1986 with the Inland Empire chapter of the MS Society.

“The awareness (that was) brought to us as people that aren’t associated with MS makes us want to help these people,” she said, “and it makes us proud of our efforts. And we get to participate in a very well organized, fun weekend.”

The pack of cyclists rode Saturday from Huntington Beach to Carlsbad, where they spent the night. That’s about 60 miles, Char said, and some cyclists added a 40-mile loop to Rancho Santa Fe to make it a “century” (100-mile) day. Sunday’s ride to San Diego was 50 miles.

Char said she has done the loop but didn’t this year because her 11-year-old was riding. “Riding into a headwind,” she added, “probably added another hour and a half onto our ride. It took us five hours.”

She said she looks forward to next year, when Trevor and Kyle will ride, at age 12, on their own bikes. “We felt that they needed the learning experience to learn how to manage riding a bicycle in a large crowd,” Char said.

Like Horner, Char Yarnall figures to keep riding in the MS event for as long as she is able – “oh my gosh, until my great-grandkids stop me … as long as I can walk and ride a bike … I guess until MS finds a cure.”

Jim Graves, spokesman for the ride, said this year’s event raised more than $2 million, easily eclipsing last year’s $1.5 million.

He credited a merger of the Orange County and San Diego chapters of the MS Society into a new Pacific South Coast chapter.

Other San Clemente participants included Robert and Suzanne Dyer. “We ride in a group of about 35 riders known as Bill’s Biker Backers for a friend of ours named Bill Bisch,” Suzanne said.

She and her husband raised about $2,800 for MS research, while the total Bill’s Biker Backers team raised more than $20,000, she said.

Frank Mangio, an airline pilot, was yet another San Clemente rider, participating as part of Team Disney – Disneyland employees and friends. “I have friends who are doing it and they asked me,” he said. “So I thought what the heck, I might as well.”

Mangio said he has friends who are living with MS. “One of them,” he said, “contributed some money towards my ride.”

How did it go? Despite a blown tire, Mangio had a great time. “I enjoyed the heck out of it,” he said. He personally raised $450, he said. His team – the biggest team in the event, with 200 members – raised more than $112,000.

Team Disney began five years ago with four riders, said Nancy Palo, director of the ride. “They’ve more than doubled their team every year,” she said.

To learn more about the new MS Society chapter and its fundraising efforts, visit www.mspacific.org or call 752-1680.

Fred Swegles grew up in small-town San Clemente before the freeway. He has covered the town since 1970. Today he covers San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano. He was in the second graduating class at San Clemente High School, after having spent the first two years of high school in double sessions at historic Capistrano Union High School in San Juan. When the new high school opened, he became first sports editor of the school paper, The Triton. He studied journalism and Spanish at USC on scholarship, graduating with honors. Was sports editor of the Daily Trojan. Surfed on the USC surf team. (High school surfing didn't exist back then.) With the Sun Post, he began covering competitive surfing from the mid-1970s, with the birth of the the modern world tour and the origins of high school surf teams. He got into surf photography and into world travel. Has surfed on six continents (not Antarctica). Has visited 11 San Clementes. Has written photo-illustrated profiles on most of them, with more in the works.

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